Rocket Stack Rank™ (RSR) aims to help casual SF fans find and discuss great original short fiction. It reviews science fiction and fantasy short stories, novelettes, and novellas, and publishes articles of interest to fans.

Pro: The foreshadowing is excellent. The hope to not draw attention from the locals. The need for heavy drapes. The arrival of unexpected crates from the cities she sent the invitations to. With each page, we’re increasingly convinced that this will be a gathering of vampires. Even so, when it's confirmed that this is "a gathering of the dead," it's chilling.

Con: Renie’s desire to join her mistress rings false somehow. Her “gift” of the two children comes out of the blue. Most of the story was from Renie's POV, yet never was there a hint that she was planning anything like this nor that she had a clue as to her mistress's real nature.

Nor does it make a lot of sense that Victoria requires Renie risk her life for her punishment. Either she wants her, in which case she’d find a less-lethal punishment, or she doesn’t, in which case she'd let the other vampires consume her.

1 comment (may contain spoilers):

Renie clearly knows what her mistress is -- she's been feeding her. Yet she doesn't seem to realize that's what the rest of the family is.

The abduction of the children was odd though. No indication that she was planning anything like it until we saw she had supplies in the trunk. The man who dropped off the wood did warn about people going missing. Perhaps the work of Renie's predecessor who was gotten rid of?

I liked how Victoria says at the beginning that her age makes her a novelty to her family. Then at the end it's revealed that the oddity is how young she is, not how old!

Search

How to Use RSR

Once a month, on the 15th, this blog posts groups of rated stories. Casual SF fans with only a few hours free can (1) use our rating, time estimate and blurb to ⚑flag a few stories to read; then for each story (2) click the title if it's a link or the Issue link to access, borrow, or purchase individual back issues with the stories; (3) read the story in an app, browser, or printed form; (4) click the 🔎︎Reviews link to see what other people think; (5) click the 🚀︎Review link for RSR's mini-review; then (6) ★rate the story so it'll appear in the ⚑★My Ratings page for use when they plan award nominations.

Once a month, on the 1st, this blog updates the previous month's stories to identify the ones Recommended Byother reviewers🏆📙﻿👍. Readers can follow the links to their reviews and use them to choose additional stories to read. The 📅Year-To-Date page is updated with all of the previous month's stories that got recommendations from anyone (not just RSR), and the ✍New Writers page is updated with the stories of any Campbell Award-eligible writers (both pages are useful for catching up if you're new to the blog).

Once a year, at the start of the Hugo Awards nomination period, the Year-To-Date page becomes the SF/F Awards page with updates for stories included in "year's best" anthologies, links to annotated versions of the Locus Recommended Reading List and Nebula Award finalists, and exhibits of select professional artists. Use them as guides for further reading, and look in the My Ratings page for the stories you've read and rated over the course of the year when you do your short fiction nominations for the Hugo, Locus, and magazine-specific awards.

After Hugo nominations close, the SF/F Awards page becomes the 🏆Best SF/F page and the stories are updated as major award finalists are announced. With the final recommendations in by mid-summer, RSR can slice-and-dice the year's Best SF/F stories into selections of 🚀Science Fiction, ✨Fantasy, and 🌈LGBT stories, and stories by 📚People of Color.

Note: Authors eligible for the Campbell Award are identified with a 1 or 2 superscript for their year.